by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Apr 22, 2016 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, CORAL Excerpt, Marine, News & Notes
DRAGON WATCH Part I Is the warming Arctic incubating a methane monster that could unleash mass extinction on Earth? By Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. Excerpted in Full from CORAL Magazine, Volume 13, Number 3 May/June 2016 | Introductory Comments I set out with an assignment...
by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Jan 10, 2016 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, Marine
Conus Snails & Conotoxins Once they are past being novices, most reef aquarium hobbyists have heard about venomous “cone” snails, named for their basically conical shape. Taxonomically placed in the genus Conus, some species, at least, are capable of stinging...
by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Dec 15, 2015 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, Marine
Are Any Bristleworms Actually Venomous? That question first arose in modern times, I presume, when the first swimmer in warm tropical waters stepped on a fireworm and discovered just how much fun it was to hop around on one foot, cursing. By the time I got around to...
by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Nov 23, 2015 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, Freshwater, Marine, News & Notes
A Puzzling Term from Fish Anatomy: The Cleithral Spot As with anything in life, the significance of a spot varies with one’s perception. Lady Macbeth saw a spot of blood on her hands that truly was a manifestation of her guilt in convincing her husband to murder his...
by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Nov 13, 2015 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, Marine
Dictionaries define “tresses” as long locks of hair, particularly from women, and “dis-” is defined as a Latin prefix meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away,” “utterly,” or having a privative, negative, or reversing force. Whew, quite a sentence! So a distressed damsel...
by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD | Nov 12, 2015 | CORAL - Ronald L. Shimek, PhD, Marine
Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet, Watching her captive reef When she saw a sea spider Eat the zoanthid beside her, It gave her a lot of grief. Now, the first question you need to ask yourself, before you proceed any further in this essay is, “What is a Tuffet?” In...
